Lights in the Sky (with twist ending) - [CWC]

Lights in the Sky

I’d woken up that day to the sound of the rain hammering the skylight window above me. I’d been sleeping at a friend’s house but he’d already
gone to work by then, so I got my stuff together, lathered myself vaguely in the sink and headed out for the bus.

The rain outside was the kind that falls directly vertical and completely saturates anything it lands upon – in this case it was me that bore the
brunt of it. As I waited for the bus I read the graffiti scrawled across the shelter. “Free Jordz”, “Save the whales”, “down with phage”,
“OTIS”, “PROVID3NC3 POSS3” and of course the obligatory “[snip] the government”. Tragic I guess, but I seemed to relate to all those
marker pen entrails in some way or another.

The bus came and I climbed on with what seemed like the rest of the neighbourhood. I gazed out the window and caught my reflection as the rain bounced
off of it. My beard was thick, unkempt and rough. My eyes etched in with coal and my hair almost matted. I’d been pretty much homeless for the last
year and a half and it was starting to show. I’m not a drug addict or a criminal though, much worse, my vice was putting trust in my government.

I had a regular job as a joiner, nothing too special but it was going okay. Then the Lehman brothers disappeared in a puff of green smoke and the firm
I worked for eventually went bust and the bank then decided to lynch me after I’d defaulted on my mortgage repayments. After torpedoing my credit
rating into the ground the bank cashed my house in as well. So there I was, 28-years-old, homeless and penniless. God bless America.

When I closed my eyes we were just leaving Providence, but by the time I opened them we were at Times Square, stuck in the most ridiculous traffic
I’d ever seen in my life. I was slightly disorientated as I’d just woken up, but people were literally stepping off of the bus into the road, all
staring upwards like their necks were jammed.

I glanced quickly through the window and saw a billowing swirl within the clouds above. They seemed to be twisting and turning as if a cyclone were
about to spring into action, but the movement was so concentrated that it looked almost as if something was moving in the clouds. It was like an
animal was trapped in this blanket of obsidian.

As the swirling got more ferocious the wind blew harder. I felt the whole bus rocking and I decided to step off myself.

Something electric hit my skin as I took the last step off of the bus. All the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I had to rub my face to
make sure it was still there. People started to shriek and point, “look!” they cried, signalling toward the never ending advertising screens of
Times Square.

What was once a colourful advert telling us all to drink poison from a bottle was now a twisting flurry of electrical interference. Something was
happening. Some of the screens were empty and a few even burst with sparks raining down onto the street below.

After the cops had turned up and tried to move everyone on by screaming “keep calm!” with rifles on their backs and army helmets on, lights
started to flicker in the mass of convulsing cloud above. White light reminiscent of ball lightening was bursting just under the cover of the cloud.
It got more intense and before long there was a sound so deafening you could barely hear it. It was an all encompassing bellow that reverberated down
your ear-well and shook your brain. It was so loud I couldn’t tell if it was really a booming noise or a shrill one, but it took over, and people
began trying to run from it.

The whole time I just stood there next to the bus with concrete boots on. I couldn’t move. I was just watching, staring and wondering amongst a sea
of people and dormant automobiles. Everyone else was either doing the same thing as me or trying to run away. Amongst the pandemonium the sound of gun
shots rattled through the air and it was clear the police were up to their usual tricks of fire first, dodge prison later.

The mayhem was brought to an abrupt end when the light came through though. The cloud had broken and a light that almost blinded shone through and
drenched itself all over everything. At this point my mouth went dry and my whole body felt as if it’d just licked a huge battery. I fell to my
knees and tried to feel for something to pull myself up on but my legs were too weak. My joints were made of glass and I became so cold I thought I
might disappear.

It became insufferable. I needed help. I was going to die.

Then it eased off. Just like that. The light was now warm and airy, but still so bright you couldn’t see where it was coming from, other than this
huge opening in the clouds.

I stood back up and around me hundreds of people did the same. We stood mystified in the middle of a broken down Times Square at what now looked to be
a huge craft lowering itself from the clouds above us.

My heart dropped through the floor. I couldn’t believe it. There it was. Intelligent life. Surely not? My mouth gaped and I couldn’t say a word. I
barely dared breathe.

Some people screamed. Some ran. Some cried and dropped to the floor. One guy not far from me looked like he was having a heart attack. I just stood
there. I couldn’t believe my eyes. A gigantic flying saucer was lowering itself slowly from the heavens. Bright light gleamed everywhere and dimmed
as the UFO became fully exposed from the clouds.

The seamless disc shaped craft just stayed there still. It didn’t hover. It was just there - totally still as if it’d been tacked on to a poster.
It was unlike any colour I’d ever seen. The closest thing to what it was would be a purple/grey, but even then you’re nowhere near imagining what
it really looked like.

My heart began to pound in my chest, as for the first time I realised we could be in danger here. 40 foot above was this huge craft the size of a
football field, and there we were all staring like ants ready to be stepped on.

I used to read a lot of sci-fi books and even posted on this crackpot conspiracy forum as a teenager, so I believed, but never did I think I’d live
to see the day when one actually came to earth.

I was just about ready to turn on my heel and run for my life when the craft shook slightly before a cylindrical beam of light burst out from it and
hit the floor around 20 feet away from me. The beam was a green colour and when you looked at it your eyes began to do crazy things. I tried to stare
at it but it was if matter itself was spinning in tiny circles amongst the light of this beam.

A body could then be seen inside this cylindrical tube of light. It looked taller than a normal human being and was draped in what could've been a
dark robe. It was like watching a silhouette materialise into a real being. You couldn't quite see what it was.

By now all the deafening screams, the sirens, gun shots, police megaphones and strange electrical wisping noise was gone. There was only complete
silence. I suddenly felt a sense of calm wash over me. It was almost synthetic it was that instant. I could’ve been sat on a beach in Jamaica
drinking rum and eating a saltfish patty I was that relaxed.

And no I haven't really planned to do any more on this I just kind of did it in one take as it were for this competition. I'm glad you enjoyed it,
and I guess the perception of Jesus' attitude when he landed is in the eye of the beholder as they say.

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